Challenge

After going through a leadership change, Greenville County Youth Orchestra was looking to ditch Excel and find a real donor CRM to track acknowledgements and tax receipts, and find new funding sources. “We are a very small nonprofit youth orchestra program. While in existence since the 70s, little was done in the way of serious fundraising other than an occasional small grant. About five years ago, under new leadership and new, experienced board members, we began seeking funds from outside our parent base. It became more and more difficult to track our contributions in Excel let alone keep track of acknowledgements and tax receipts,” said Holly Caprell, Executive Director at Greenville County Youth Orchestra.

Solution

Bloomerang’s ease of use and affordability. “We worked with a consultant who helped us review several options. Bloomerang won for ease of use AND cost.” Holly has since come to appreciate the convenience of Bloomerang’s QuickBooks integration for increasing productivity when it comes to data entry and keeping donation data up-to-date. “Many of our donors still use checks. The QuickBooks integration prevents us from having to enter them into both QuickBooks and Bloomerang.”

In addition to Bloomerang’s functionality, Holly touts its intuitiveness, functionality, and continual product updates as another reason to recommend it as a top donor database option to other performing arts organizations like theirs. “It’s a perfect fit for the smaller nonprofit. The price is right and it’s easy to use. I like the fact that you are always looking for ways to improve your product.”

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Greenville County Youth Orchestra has alleviated several fundraising pain points around “acknowledgements and tax statements” thanks to the QuickBooks integration. They’ve also seen improvements in productivity and the quality of their constituent communications. With Bloomerang we’ve benefited from “consistency in acknowledgements, ease in sending email messages with little video thank you messages, and less time recording contributions by check or cash.”

Not only have they seen an increase in productivity and efficiency in their development and accounting processes, but Holly and the team at Greenville County Youth Orchestra have also benefited from more visibility into their donor retention metrics and insights from built-in fundraising features to increase their dollars raised metrics. “Being timely with acknowledgments, the ability to send out little messages and letters to prompt annual givers all have increased our annual giving amounts.”

All in all, it’s amazing what an insightful, intuitive, and fundraising-focused database can do for the growth of a performing arts organization such as Greenville County Youth Orchestra.

The post Greenville County Youth Orchestra appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

Walden School was looking for easy-to-use donor management software that could replace Raiser’s Edge. They needed a solution that was more robust for cultivating and stewarding their donors. “My school has been using the base package of Raiser’s Edge for about 15 years. We needed something that produced more accurate reports and provided us better donor cultivation and stewardship opportunities,” said Ely Heard, Assistant Director of Development at Walden School.

Solution

After being impressed with a Bloomerang demo at a previous organization, Ely was excited to actually have buying decision this time around. She has come to appreciate how easy Bloomerang is to use, the integrations available, and how easy it now is to steward their donors. “I appreciate the ease of use, the focus on donor stewardship and the collaboration with TrueGivers and DonorSearch.”

Ely and her team were happy to turn their eyes to Bloomerang as a donor database solution that could improve their donor and constituent experience while also saving them time and money. “So far, switching to Bloomerang has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in my time at my school. Not only are we saving money each year, our constituents are getting a better experience from our school.”

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Walden School has alleviated several fundraising pain points in regards to reporting and stewardship tracking. “I have found customizing reports to be so much easier in Bloomerang. We also found Wealth Screening to be much easier and stewardship tracking to be more accessible.”

The team at Walden School has also seen improvements with their gift development processes, which has directly impacted the quality of their constituent communications. “Before Bloomerang we were lucky to send out donation acknowledgement letters in a timely manner. Now we’re able to easily send birthday letters to all constituents, my head of school is easily completing tasks I send her, and I can create giving by class reports.”

In that same vein, the ability to easily add personal touches, segment their donors, and have peace of mind that their donor data is correct and continually updated has increased their development team’s productivity and the results of their communication efforts. “I am able to track exactly how many interactions I’m having with our constituents on a day-to-day basis. I’m getting up-to-date address changes on a nightly basis and my constituent’s birthdays are accessible. I’m able to assign tasks to my head of school and director of development to keep them in the loop of constituents’ life changes and large gifts.”

All in all, it’s amazing what an easy-to-use, donor-focused database can do for the growth of an organization such as Walden School. “I love Bloomerang!”

The post Walden School appeared first on Bloomerang.

The purpose of the below case study is to feature an organization that found its way to Bloomerang through Benevon and who saw the benefit of using Bloomerang for Benevon—a world-class donor database that complements a world-class sustainable fundraising model.

Your Donor Database is Only as Good as Its Ability to Integrate with Your Fundraising Model

That’s why Bloomerang has partnered with Benevon to provide Bloomerang for Benevon—a customized, easy-to-use, cloud-based donor management solution that integrates with the Benevon Model.

Challenge

How Is The Benevon Model Being Used?
Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast has followed the Benevon Model by inviting individuals to see and experience their mission first-hand. Benevon does a great job of helping Bill Dillman and his team interact and engage with these individuals. Benevon’s first “Point of Entry” step entails using your organization’s Ambassadors to inspire their friends and colleagues with an introductory event about the organization that focuses on facts and an emotional appeal. Bill and his team have successfully adapted that first step with their organization’s mission and overarching areas of impact—and done away with some pain points in the process!

Benevon has helped Bill alleviate the pain point of how to get potential donors to visit Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast, and how to shape what they see and take away from the experience. Taking it one step further, Benevon has also assisted with dictating what stories they should tell and follow-up questions they should ask to generate continued engagement with these individuals. Individuals engaged with your mission empower your nonprofit.

What Originally Drew You To Bloomerang?
After Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast successfully implemented Benevon, a proven sustainable fundraising model, Bill Dillman, Vice President of Marketing and Development, realized the importance and appeal of finding a donor database solution that could incorporate and complement the Benevon Model. After attending a Benevon 101 training, and getting a recommendation from Benevon’s Founder and CEO, Terry Axelrod, Bill and his team decided that Bloomerang donor management software would best fit their fundraising and development needs.

Solution

How is Bloomerang being used by your nonprofit? What challenges did you want a Donor Database to solve?

Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast had finally found a system to empower their development team. Bloomerang’s integration with DonorSearch’s wealth screening tool, AND seamless website integration for online donation forms, have been great assets for their development team.

On top of that, Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast has been really happy with Bloomerang’s capabilities and service. Bill says they’ve benefited from “great support from the Bloomerang team.” From the sales process to implementation and onboarding to customer support, the team at Bloomerang always strives to give great support and service. They’re truly “wonderful folks.”

What was the appeal of Bloomerang for Benevon and what has Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast come to appreciate since implementing it?
Having a system that seamlessly integrates the Benevon processes and vocabularies has been beneficial to the development team at Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast. The online donation website integration has been the most helpful in driving donations and integrating the data back into the Bloomerang system.

Bill and his team now have the information they need for their gift development process right at their fingertips. It’s simple and intuitive for Bill to prepare the CEO before he meets with major gift donors or prospects.

Results

Has Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast Seen Changes In Your Fundraising Results Since Using Bloomerang For Benevon?
Since implementing Bloomerang for Benevon, Bill has seen an increase in revenue raised from their fundraising efforts.

“The Benevon Model increased our annual fundraiser from $130,000 to $400,000 in one year with less staff and more engagement from the board.” That’s a 207.7% increase in just one year!

On top of that, Bloomerang for Benevon has helped Bill and his team benefit from positive changes to key metrics since implementation. They have seen a lower cost for events and “true community engagement,” all while raising more revenue.

It’s amazing what a user-friendly, uncomplicated tool can do for the growth of an organization such as Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast.

“Bloomerang for Benevon is a great tool, easy to work and really fun to use.”

The post Goodwill Easterseals of the Gulf Coast appeared first on Bloomerang.

A Fresh Take on Social Fundraising

Bloomerang users can easily create peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and personal fundraising pages through Qgiv, while capturing and synchronizing those interactions into Bloomerang.

The Joseph Maley Foundation serves children of ALL abilities through programs that serve the whole child and those who directly affect the child, including parents, siblings, friends, educators, health professionals, and community leaders. Our programs impart:

• Disability awareness to schools and organizations;
• Mental, physical, and emotional health understanding to children;
• IEP and special education advocacy to connect families and educators;
• Sibling workshops which provide an environment to discuss shared experiences;
• Adaptive and inclusive athletics to all children;
• Service-learning opportunities for individuals within their community;
• Acceptance of all through puppets in a relaxed environment for conversation;
• Comfort to parents navigating infant loss.

Challenge

What Originally Drew You To Qgiv And How Is It Being Used By Your Organization?
According to the former Director of Development, in 2013 the Joseph Maley Foundation was looking to make a transition from using PayPal to process online giving to something that could integrate seamlessly with their website, inspire donor trust, and give them event registration and peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities. Qgiv fit that bill perfectly!

Now, Qgiv is being used by the team as a one-stop shop for their online donors. “We utilize Qgiv for our online donation page, to process online program registrations/payments, for online event registrations, for peer-to-peer events (both operated by our organization and to set up custom peer-to-peer events for our supporters), and for our annual gala, which features an auction. We have even used it to sell merchandise (and track inventory) as it relates to particular events or programs.”

How Is Bloomerang Being Used By Your Organization? What Challenges Did You Want A Donor Database To Solve?
When Joseph Maley Foundation was looking for a donor relations-focused database in 2017, they wanted something that could be a true relationship management solution. They wanted to be able to strengthen and formalize systems for things they were doing well, like stewardship, without losing traction in those areas.

“We had been tracking donor activity and generating reports on Quickbooks, utilizing Google Sheets for stewardship activity, but the duplication of effort was staggering, and we were missing out on true relationship management. We knew we wanted to streamline and enhance our stewardship and donor communication while maintaining our personal relationships with our supporters. Bloomerang offered us all that in its customizability, and we’ve been thrilled.”

Now, the team is happy to be able to use Bloomerang to generate appeals, solicit donor feedback through surveys, and to schedule and track stewardship. They’ve also started to utilize the system for their volunteer management.

Solution

Was It Appealing To Find A Donor Database That Could Integrate With Qgiv?
Finding a donor database that could integrate with the systems and processes they already had set up in Qgiv were essential for Joseph Maley Foundation.

“One of our goals in finding a CRM to use at the Joseph Maley Foundation was to reduce and hopefully eliminate duplication of effort across systems. The Bloomerang/Qgiv integration ensured that goal could be achieved with respect to online giving.”

How Has Qgiv’s Auction Platform Combined With Bloomerang’s Stewardship Capabilities Benefited Your Organization?
The folks at the Joseph Maley Foundation recently hosted their annual gala using Qgiv’s new auction software for the event and Bloomerang for stewardship after the event.

Here’s what they had to say about the ease of using Qgiv and Bloomerang before, during, and after their event:

“The amazing thing about Qgiv auctions and the Bloomerang integration was that when we returned to the office on Monday after our Saturday event, all donor information was already mapped into Bloomerang. We were able to use both Qgiv and Bloomerang’s reporting tools to generate individualized stewardship plans for each guest, create those tasks in Bloomerang, and make sure every guest and supporter of the event was thanked personally and in a timely fashion. This would have been impossible without the Bloomerang/Qgiv integration, and gives us great confidence and reassurance going into the end of the year that all of our donors will be reported to and well-thanked. Qgiv has made it possible to move our event to a later time that makes more sense for our constituents. To have everything done so quickly and so seamlessly before we go into our year-end campaign is exactly what we wanted.”

How Does An Organization Like Yours Benefit From Using Bloomerang And How Does It Fit Into Your Constituent Communications, Donor Retention, And Gift Development Processes?
As a small organization with only one development staff person on board when Bloomerang was implemented, it was appreciated how intuitive and easy it was to learn the system, as well how smooth the transition process was for onboarding. As the Joseph Maley team has grown, Bloomerang has provided a transparent and seamless system to onboard staff to gift entry, acknowledgement, interaction and relationship notes, and donor communication tasks.

“Bloomerang helps us recognize all donor activity — gifts, volunteerism, attendance at special events — and our stewardship in one place to ensure we are individualizing our outreach to inform our gift development process and mindfully steward each gift. We also use Bloomerang to find “hidden gems” in our database — who is giving loyally? who is incredibly engaged? to personalize our outreach and re-think our prospects. Finally, by using it for our volunteer management, we’re able to better integrate our stewardship efforts across donors and volunteers.”

Results

What Can You Tell Us About Changes In Key Metrics and Fundraising Pain Points Since Switching To Bloomerang?
Bloomerang has been an integral part of Joseph Maley Foundation’s strategic growth over the last two and a half years, especially when it comes to donor retention. Their donor retention rate has increased by at least ten percent in the last year alone.

Most importantly, since implementing Bloomerang, Joseph Maley Foundation has been able to grow their staff in order to increase the programming they offer.

“These hires would not have been possible without increasing revenues from donations, sponsorships, and special events. And those revenues would not have increased (as steadily and easily) without Bloomerang. The main fundraising pain that has been alleviated is the efficiency of our systems. Now, multiple people can be involved in our stewardship and communications processes, and all information is no longer siloed, but accessible to all users.”

What Are Some Things That the Bloomerang/Qgiv Integration Have Helped Your Organization With In Regards To Fundraising?
According to the team at Joseph Maley Foundation, this integration has been extremely helpful in streamlining their fundraising processes. Her favorite part of the Bloomerang/Qgiv integration is their ability to map imports from Qgiv so they appear on the exact right fund and campaign in Bloomerang. “It’s a simple thing but saves us extra steps (and time!) in ensuring our gift entry is accurate. We double-check each gift that was imported and use that time to immediately enter stewardship tasks based on that donor’s history and behavior. It really is seamless and makes it a simple step in our fundraising process.”

If You Were To Talk To Another Nonprofit About Your Experience With Qgiv Or Bloomerang, What Would You Say?
Don’t just take our word for it, take the folks at Joseph Maley Foundation’s:

“We’re incredibly happy with both our Bloomerang and Qgiv experiences. Qgiv’s flexible options for standard donations, peer-to-peer, and auctions make it a fantastic partner for Bloomerang since all of those aspects are part of our overall fundraising strategy.

We particularly love Qgiv’s integration with Bloomerang! The custom mappings for each Qgiv donation, event, peer-to-peer, and auction page make sure our donation information is automatically imported into the correct fund, campaign, and appeal in Bloomerang. This helps streamline our fundraising processes and makes us more efficient, but most importantly helps us focus our attention on our donor relationships and stewardship within Bloomerang.

One big reason I’m such a fan of both companies is the extraordinary customer service and communication from both Qgiv and Bloomerang. It makes a big difference and has helped to shape our overwhelmingly positive experiences.”

The post Joseph Maley Foundation appeared first on Bloomerang.

Challenge

Pacific Wild was looking to replace Salesforce with easy-to-use donor management software with knowledgeable customer support. They wanted a system they could make their own without needing to know how to code, and with support, they could rely on. “We have US and Canadian non-profits and were using Salesforce SNSP.

We wanted a user-friendly system where we could accept funds in both currencies, with EXCELLENT support – Salesforce had none and the lack of it crippled us at key times – and you had to know object-oriented programming to customize it,” said Laurie McConnell, Development and Outreach Assistant at Pacific Wild.

Solution

After researching and testing a handful of different donor databases, Laurie ultimately landed on Bloomerang as the best size, functionality, and intuitiveness for their growing organization. “We had a consultant investigate five systems, and winnow it down to three for me to test. Bloomerang was the easiest to use and fit our database size, and the support was very good. The reporting is superb. We also liked that Bloomerang was independently owned and not positioning itself for a buyout – that’s when support and continued development of the platform disappears and clients are left hanging.”

In addition to finding the best database solution to fit their needs, Laurie and her team were more than happy with Bloomerang’s product partner integrations and the ability to build out a robust, multi-channel, custom development machine. “We use almost all of the integrations. We import our Shopify and photographic print orders into Bloomerang through Zapier, segment and communicate by email through Mailchimp, and have GeoTargetly and Fundraise Up implemented on our site. We’ve even provided our sponsors and key donor partners a Fundraise Up donate lightbox that allows their site visitors to donate to Pacific Wild without ever leaving the partner’s website.”

Through the help of integrations, Bloomerang has fit perfectly into Pacific Wild’s donor retention and gift development processes to go into year-end fundraising with confidence, be more strategic in their planning, and do the best job they can at building and maintaining donor relationships. “Because of Bloomerang – and the recent integrations developed, including Zapier – we are now able to work on segmentation, stewardship, and long-range planning. It was always a chaotic ad-hoc end-of-year process and this year feels very different.”

Laurie recommends Bloomerang to other environmental organizations and provides hope that there can be a light at the end of the tunnel. You don’t have to settle for a donor management system that doesn’t meet your needs as well just because it’s always been used. “It’s always intimidating to consider switching donor databases, and it takes longer than you think, but when you’re done, the relief is so welcome and you really get an idea of a) how much time was lost on your old system and b) how much bigger picture you can plan when donor database headaches are no longer a factor. The ability to train a backup in the organization is also critical. Most organizations do not have adequate succession planning and it’s a real weakness. Bloomerang is easy to train on compared to most systems. And the webinars are excellent.”

Results

Since implementing Bloomerang, Pacific Wild has alleviated several fundraising pain points, specifically around more easily accepting U.S. donations and ensuring donors have the receipts they need upon donating. “Oh, goodness. The US donations problem was solved. The new integration with Fundraise Up is excellent. We can now receive and receipt in any currency, and we can provide tax receipts on the spot for US and Canadian donors.”

Laurie and the team at Pacific Wild now have better insights into their donor retention and dollars raised statistics and can put in the work to start raising more money. They are now set up for development success. “We finally have the time to be able to do this work with all of our automation and integrations. I look forward to comparing this year over last year after year-end.”

Laurie has also been able to benefit from increased productivity and efficiency, especially when compared to their struggles with learning, teaching, and maintaining their Salesforce CRM. “The amount of time we were losing through Salesforce was astronomical. Unless you have a Salesforce administrator on your team (highly paid, highly specialized, which most small organizations can not afford) it’s a time boondoggle. I am cross-training another staffer on Bloomerang and it’s easy to teach!”

All in all, it’s amazing what an easy-to-use, innovative donor database can do for the growth of environmental organizations like Pacific Wild. “I highly recommend Bloomerang!”

The post Pacific Wild appeared first on Bloomerang.